BRING IN THE FALL SEASON WITH THESE EASY TO MAKE MARBLED SUGAR COOKIES WITHOUT FROSTING THAT resemble the changing AUTUM leaves
Are you looking for a fun new way to make delicious sugar cookies, but just want something simple? You know, sugar cookies without frosting. All the flavor, but less work? I have the best sugar cookie cutout recipe for you.
Frosting sugar cookies always seems to be more work than it can be worth to me. I would much rather make fun, pretty colored sugar cookies that do not need the royal icing to be complete.
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What better way to make frosting free sugar cookies and celebrate fall than making the sugar cookie dough itself full of the bright colors of fall?
For the cookies, we used my easy vanilla almond sugar cookie recipe – only we chose to add a hint of maple flavoring instead of almond – it just seemed right for our fall theme!
Ingredients AND TOOLS you will need:
- Sugar
- Butter
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Gel food coloring—red, green, yellow, and orange
- Leaf cookie cutters
HOW DO I CREATE THE FALL THEMED MOSIAC SUGAR COOKIE
The trick to getting the perfect marbled effect for these cutout sugar cookies is to tear off little bits of the dough to form a bit of a mosaic, and then knead just a few times.
If you knead the dough too much it creates a solid brown color which still tastes great, but doesn’t have the same visual effect we’re going for here! Otherwise, this is pretty foolproof.
You guys. This recipe is so stinkin’ easy, especially when you start with my trusty sugar cookie dough recipe for this fall leaf cutout sugar cookie experiment.
Once you have made your cutout sugar cookies, use a paring knife to lightly press the veins of the leaves. Refrigerate each pan of cookie cutouts for about 10 minutes before baking to help them retain this pretty shape. 
We had originally intended to add a clear donut glaze, but in the end we didn’t need it. If you want to go for a more “professional Look”, rather than homemade, you could add a glaze to give it that special effect!
Aren’t they beautiful?
I’d love to see how yours turn out, so please share them with me! Enjoy!
Marbled Fall Leaf Sugar Cookie Cutouts
Bring in the fall season with these easy to make marbled sugar cookies that resemble the changing autumn leaves. No icing required!
Ingredients
- 1 C. sugar
- 2 sticks butter, cold & cut into chunks
- 1 egg
- 3/4 t. vanilla extract
- 1/2 t. maple extract
- 3 C. all-purpose flour
- 2 t. baking powder
- Gel food coloring - red, yellow, orange, green
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cream the sugar and butter. Mix in the egg and extracts.
- Combine the flour and baking powder, then add to sugar mixture and mix just until combined.
- Separate dough into 4 equal sections. Add one color of food coloring gel to each section, until desired color is achieved.
- Tear chunks from each color of dough and roll out onto a floured surface, being careful not to over-mix colors. Cut into leaf shapes.
- Place on parchment lined baking sheets. To help retain shape, place the tray of cutouts in the freezer 3-5 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Wonderful!!! Love them.
Thank you!
Saw your cute Maple Fall Leaf Sugar Cookies and thought this would be a prefect recipe for this Fall. However upon close review of the recipe, there is NO mention of how much maple extract to use nor the quantity of food coloring. I also realized there is NO “print” option for the recipe. Wish all of the above mentioned had been included.
Hi J.J.
Thanks so much for your feedback! The full sugar cookie recipe is located here https://fivemarigolds.wpenginepowered.com/2015/11/30/the-best-vanilla-almond-sugar-cut-out-cookie-recipe/ and there is a “print” option on all of my recipe cards (the pink button at the top of the recipe card). Just swap out the “almond extract” for the “maple” and use food coloring until your desired color is reached. I used gel food coloring which only requires about 1/4 tsp. of color per section. However, based on your feedback I will consider adding the recipe card for this variation on this post as well. I hope that is helpful!